Geographical clock.



Patented Sept. I| |900. A. G. BEAUNISNE.

GEOGRAPHICAL CLOCK.

(Application mod Feb. l2, 1900.)

(No Model.)

ZQl/Z e@ (mim.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALBERT G. BEAUNISNE, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

GEOGRAPHICAL CLOCK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 657,686, dated September 1 1, 1900.

Application tiled February 12, 1900. Serial No. 4,928. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Beit known that I, ALBERT G. BEAUNISNE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, 1n the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented anew and useful Improvement in Clocks, of which-the following is a specification. l

My invention relates particularly to clocks designed to show simultaneously the hours for diterent longitudes.

My object is to provide a clock of this class of extremely-simple construction and yet capable of showing at a glance the time for a large number of different longitudes.

I -accomplish my purpose by employing a stationary composite diai made up of concentric rings of dial-numerals, the corresponding characters whereof are separated by an; guiar distances corresponding to differences in longitude, and-in connection with this dial hour and minute hands of su'icient length to indicate time on all of said rings of dial-numerals.

Preferably for the purpose of my invention the earths surface (or such portion thereof as provision is made for) is divided arbitrarily into time divisions or zones after the manner of the standard-time divisions now employed in this and other countries.

In the accompanying drawing the invention is shown embodied in a convenient form. Preferably an outer permanently-fixed annular dial A is employed, and an adjustable inner composite dial Bis fixed Within the annulnsaiordedl by the outer dial. At the common centerare the hand-posts, the minute- .hand postbeing indicated by a.

C C' represent the minute and the hour hand, respectively.

The dial B is divided, by preference, into twenty-,four concentric rings or dial zones, designated by the numerals from 1 to 24, inclusive. Each zone thus represents a timedivision or earth zone fifteen degrees in width, 4and the time changes one hour in passing from one zone into another. The inner boundary of the inner dial zone and the outer boundary of the outer dial zone represent the date-line, these .boundaries being approxi# mately one hundred and eighty degrees east `or west of Greenwich. The mean solar time .of the outer boundary of each earth zdne has been arbitrarily selected as the time for the zone, and vit will thus be seen that the mean solar time for any point in an earth zone may be found by adding a correction to the earth-zone time. It follows'that the outer boundary of the twelfth dial zone from thev The prominent cities of each time zone are' designated on their respective dial zones, and for convenience of reference the names are alphabeticallyv arranged circumferentially of the zones, beginning always at a common angular division of the dial itself.

The dials may be numbered from 17 to 12 to indicate the hours of t-he half-day, or from 1 to 24 to indicate the hours of the whole day. They are here shown numbeied from I to 12. The day is assumed to begin at one hundred and eighty degrees east. The numbcrf12 of the inner zone-dial is at the top, and progressing outwardly this number is one space removed to the right in every new zone met. When the Greenwich zone'is reached, the number 12 again appears at the top. The dial B is shown so set With relation io the dial A that. the Greenwich zone-dial corresponds to the dial A, and the clock may be said to be set for Greenwich time.

rlo enablel the dial B to be moved to cause any zone-dial to correspond with the outer and. more prominent dial A, a series of halfcircnlar perforatiops b are provided at the margin of the dial B, any one of which may be caused t@ register with 'a half-circular perforation in the dial A for receiving a pin b', which locks rhe two parts togethexlYA Once the dial is set for a given locality it remains stationary.

The correction to be added to theindicated zone-time for any city in a given zdne in order to secure mean solar time is set vdown close to the name of the city-for instance, after Washington occurs the number 52, indicating that fifty-two minutes is the cor- Vjacent zone, &c.

reet-ion to be added to the time for the Tashington zone to give the mean time for Washington itself.

lt is to be understood that the improved4 dial will be less elaborate than here shown;-`

hnt the prin'ciple of my invention which cannot he departed from without great disadvantage is that of lia-ving concentrically-arranged dials the corresponding figures of which are separated by angular distances corresponding to longitudinal differences. It is not essential that the composite dial be formed in one piece. The hands are shown pointingr to five minutes past ten for the i,n ner zone, tive minutes past nine for the ad- Assuming a. m. time in the inner zones, p. m. time of a prior day is present when the tenth zone from the center i reached.V 'lhe dial is shown graduated to five seconds. 'l`hisgra'duation,consistingofshort radial lines, is shown arranged in narrow rings separating the time zones, and it is to he borne in mind that one of these separating-rings is to be regardedrcally as a wide line or space separating time zones.

By way of further illustration, if the timel for Athens is desired the name will be sought, in the proper sector under t-he alphabetical arrangement, the time for the Athens zone will be. noted as five min utes past eleven; and the mean time for the city will be found by adding the correction 35 noted after the name, giving its local mean time as fdrty minutes past eleven. Similarly the mean time for Washington will be found to be fiftyseven minutes past four. It will be noted that t-he method of reckoning is to take the hour indicated by the honrhand on the zone whose time. is sought and the minutes on the zone which is the basis ,of comparison. The reason for this is that thc zone times -differ by whole hours only, since the zones are liftcen degrees in width.

What i claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters latent, is

l. A dial divided by concentric circles into dial zones, each dial zone hearingdiaLnumerals l'or indicatingr time for a corresponding earth '/.one and hearing names of places located on said earth zone, one marginal dial zone representing an extreme eastern or western earth zone and the remaining dial zones being successively removed therefrom in a common direction and located according to the longitudes ofthe ear-th zones respectively represented, substantially as and for the pn rn pose set forth.

2. A dial divided by concentric circles into dial zones, eachvdial zone bcaring-dial-numerals for indicating time for a correspondingr earth zone and bearing names of places located on said earth zone, the coneent-ricaliyarranged dial-numerals being also disposed in radial alinements, any given numeral of any dial zone being in radial alinement with a different. numeral of any adjacent dial zone, the names of places appearing on the several dial zones and having the same initial letter being in radial alinement, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

3. The combination ofa dial divided by con-l centric circles into dial zones, each dial zone representing an earth zone of fifteen degrees Width and bearing dial-numerals for indicating time for said earth zone and bearing also names of places on said earth zone, the numerals of the dial zones beingin radial alinetnents, any given numeral of any dial zolne being in radial alinement with 'litlicrent numerals of adjacent dial zones, and hour and minute hands moving over the face of said dial, said hour-hand being disposed to indi cate simultaneously the hours forthe several zones while the minute-hand indicates the common minute for the several zones upon one given dial zone, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

4. The combination with a permanentlyfixed prominent ringr of dialntumerals, of a normally-stationary adjustable dial divided by concentric circles into dial zones, said dial zones bearing dialnumerals and also names of places on the respect-ive earth zones rcpresented, said numerals being disposed in radial alinemcnts, adjacent numerals of cach alinement being dissimilar, the adjustabilitj' of the composite dial pcrmittingany dial zone t'o be placed with its numerals in radial alinelnent with like numerals of said prominent dial, whereby a time-indicator for use in different longitudes is afforded, substantially as and' for the purpose sot. forth.

Alililtllt'l G. lilCAiiNlSNlf.. In presence ofl). W. Lrnv., A. l). llaetfl. 

